Episode 419: Pokemon: The War of All against All

On the Overthinking It Podcast we consider the technological and social phenomenon of Pokemon Go, and wonder whether any of our pets have had a secret life.

Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather gather to overthink the various celebratory and dystopian discourses (drink) around Pokemon Go, touching briefly on whether their pets have had a secret life.

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9 Comments on “Episode 419: Pokemon: The War of All against All”

  1. Derdrom #

    There wasn’t a mainstream Pokemon mobile game before Pokemon Go, but your mentioning that reminds me that you should look up Ojimon, or ask past guest Zack Johnson.

    Reply

    • Chimalpahin #

      And there have been dozens of knockoffs, some more brazen than others before Pokemon Go.

      (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc5VjAeeBeA)

      Actually there was one game that essentially did this before Pokemon Go or even the cellphone revolution.

      Does anyone remember the Invizimals? Probably not XD But it was for the PSP and it was generic but had a camera accessory that does the Pokemon GO thing

      Reply

  2. Chimalpahin #

    What a great podcast, it’s one of my new favorites :) I kinda want a Fenzel led Overview on Pokemon The First Movie up to the Third one at minimum :D I’d pay in Pokedollars!

    Reply

  3. Ben Adams OTI Staff #

    Well ACTUALLY, Wrather, Ellis Island did not change any names for people coming through. As the Tour Guides on the island will take great pains to tell you, names of Ellis Island immigrants were taken directly from passenger manifests of the ships that pulled in there, and those lists were created in the original port of call. If names were changed “at Ellis” it was usually because the immigrant choose to adopt a more American-ized name upon arrival. But the story of some racist functionary who can’t pronounce foreign names and so they get bastardized at the border is largely a myth.

    Reply

    • Chimalpahin #

      That was more of a Spanish thing, that’s what happened in the Philippines. All of those Spanish names .

      Reply

    • Mike #

      “The word kike was born on Ellis Island when there were Jewish migrants who were also illiterate (or could not use Latin alphabet letters).”

      Would wikipedia lie to you?

      Reply

  4. Chimalpahin #

    I think Belinkie and Fenzel forgot to mention, or most likely they stopped playing after the first two generations of Pokemon, but the catching of pokemon gets even weirder.

    Not only do you capture rare animals by fighting them by the 4th generation not only are you capturing rare animals but you are also capturing pokemon who control time and space, to manifestations of nature and the weather and finally pokemon who embody life and death and ultimately GOD.

    Yes in Pokemon god itself is a Pokemon and can be captured by 10 year olds. ;)

    Reply

  5. Chimalpahin #

    Also I don’t think y’all mentioned that game uses kilometers and not patriotic miles and feet. I suspect Pokemon Go is a commie plot!

    Reply

  6. Fred Firestine #

    In contrast to our intrepid hosts, I was married plus one daughter when Pokemon came to the U.S. When she was little, she was easily frightened, and we were concerned that the overstimulation you talked about, as well as the “monster” aspect (no matter how innocent) would lead to stress and sleepless nights, so we did not let her participate in the craze during her grade school years. We did let her in on the joke, so to speak, by purchasing a Pikachu stuffed doll and having her tell her friends he was her favorite. Our son is eight years younger, so she has had the opportunity to recapture her youth (so to speak) by participating with him. It turns out some of her friends were big fans too, so that’s something they have talked about together.

    I like how Pete pointed out the aspect of categorization that young boys like to do. When I was a kid in the 70s, I collected sports cards (I tried to be a fan), as well as other collectible cards I wish I had kept, along with the Starfleet Technical Manual which I lent to a friend and never saw again. We memorized ship details, episode dialogue, etc. Before the Internet, we had to get our learning from books, and hopefully someone within bicycle distance of our home shared our enthusiasm.

    My kids are enjoying Pokemon Go, of course, and I was happy to see them strike out into the neighborhood the other night, which probably would not happen for any other reason. Stay safe out there!

    Reply

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